How Humidity Affects Your Heating/Cooling

On especially humid days, it might feel like your AC unit just isn’t working. You crank the temperature way down, and you’re still sweating. This is all thanks to how humidity affects your heating/cooling system. We’ll teach you all about this idea and explain why it’s such a problem around these parts.

Humidity in Your Home

Humidity is a term that explains how much water vapor is in the air. You’ll hear people use percentages when they’re talking about it. This percentage explains how much of the air is water, and how much is actual air. It’s a little confusing, but there’s invisible water vapors floating around in the air. This is essentially why humidity is so awful.

When you’re hot, your body sweats to get rid of the heat. If there’s already water on your skin, you can’t sweat as well. This is why high humidity in your home is an issue.

The water vapor in the air is slowing down how well you can regulate your body’s temperature, making you feel hotter than it actually is. On top of that, warm air can hold more moisture than cold air can.

With most of the country on stay-at-home orders, it is more important than ever to make sure that our immediate environments are safe.

We always suggest keeping your home’s humidity below 60%. The golden range is a value between 50% and 55% humidity in your home. One reason for this is because it feels more comfortable, the other reason is due to how humidity affects your heating system.

How Humidity Affects Heating Systems

During the cold nights of a Carolina winter, you might find yourself dialing up the thermostat. If your home’s humidity is too low, then you’ll have a problem here. Colder outdoor temperatures mean a naturally lower humidity rate in the air which turns into a lower humidity in your home.

Unfortunately, low humidity is just as nasty as high humidity. The lower humidity will make you feel cooler, even when the thermometer is at a comfortable temperature. You might be shivering and feeling sick, wondering if your heater is busted.

If your home’s humidity is lower than 30% in the winter, you’ll experience problems like:

  • Dry lips
  • A lot of static electricity
  • Itchy throat and nose
  • Increased risk of respiratory illnesses and colds

This dry air also makes your heater work harder. You might be tempted to increase the temperature even more since it still feels cold, and that contributes to more strain on your heating system. A strained system might wind up needing professional heating repairs which cost you money. Of course, your heat isn’t the only part of your HVAC system that struggles with humidity issues – your cooling does, too.

How Humidity Affects Central Air Conditioning

Your central air conditioning system works by getting rid of hot air in your home and replacing it with fresh, cool air. Within your AC system, there are a lot of components that work together to do this process.

A big part of the process is the evaporator coil. It takes the water vapor out of your air and turns it into a liquid. This process helps to dehumidify your home – lowering the humidity level across the board.

The problem with high humidity is that it can overload your HVAC system. It won’t be able to keep up with humidity spikes, and the resulting air will feel wet. Enough humidity and your windows will fog up and your home will start to smell musty. It may even cause mold or mildew on your windows and walls!

By turning the thermometer even lower, you’ll be overworking and further straining your central air conditioning. This, again, results in more frequent air conditioning repairs. All in all, controlling your humidity is a big deal. How do you do that?

If water droplets containing the bacteria are sucked into the HVAC system, they can be pushed back out into the common indoor environment

Dehumidifying in the Home

The bigger problem we have in South Carolina is homes that are too humid. If you want to get rid of the moisture in the air, you need a dehumidifier.

One way to do that is to keep your windows open and leave fans running to help circulate the air. When the days get too hot, this might not be an option.

A lot of our customers in the area choose to use a dehumidifier in their homes. This is a little machine that sucks the moisture out of the air and collects the water into a little container within the machine. You dump the container when it fills up, and you don’t have to worry about high humidity anymore.

Dehumidifiers have to be correctly sized for your home. This takes your square footage and current humidity into consideration. If it’s too large, you’ll dry your home out – too small, and you won’t fix the problem. If you’re not sure, you can ask one of our pros at Carolina Comfort to walk you through the process. The other thing we can do is take care of your heating/cooling equipment.

Learn More About Humidity and Your Home

Learning about humidity is a little confusing, and it’s really hard for you to know your humidity levels. A humidity level that’s too high or too low can overwork your HVAC system and leave you feeling uncomfortable. If you want to chat with a professional, you can always give us a call or an email. At Carolina Comfort, our goal is to keep your family comfortable in your home. We’ll answer your questions and send over a professional HVAC technician to repair, upgrade, or diagnose your problem.

Expert Consultation – Only A Call Away!

Carolina Comfort, Inc. has been serving the neighborhoods of Columbia, South Carolina for over two decades. This means that when it comes to air conditioning systems, we really know our business.

From assessing your cooling requirements to bringing down costs associated with faulty air conditioning units, Carolina Comfort, Inc. can serve all your AC related needs.

The best part is that we pride on being available 24/7 for our customers.

After all, air conditioning systems can stop working any time, and so our technicians are always available to deal with any AC related emergencies – whether it is a weekend, holiday, or the middle of the night!

If you have any questions, need a consultation, or someone to repair your air conditioning unit – call us now!

 

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5636 Bush River Rd.
Columbia, SC 29212
SC License – #M104545
NC License – #32356

Phone: (803) 794-5526

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